In recent years, an increasingly big number of African American women take a fashion decision to return to their natural…

For quite a long time this has been one of our most frequently requested tutorials and it’s finally here! Though I personally wash my curly hair maybe once or twice a week, depending on the exact situation at hand. Like whether I’m shooting for the blog or where I’m going. It all depends on the hairstyles I want to wear on any given day. I have been known to sometimes delay it for longer than a week and that’s where braids come in.

While making this curly hair guide, I’ve also used a diffuser to quicken up the process, simply because my hair can take a really long time to dry naturally.

If there’s one specific day when I’m just working at home on my laptop, then I wash my hair in the morning and leave it to dry naturally for all day long. Oftentimes it will be taking the most of the day to dry which is not convenient at all. Though when using less frizz the results are a bit better, as when I just let my hair air dry but I do like using a diffuser. That makes a difference because it gives me a little bit of extra volume at my hair roots. The rule of thumb is if you’re trying to grow your hair the less heat the better, so only blow dry your hair when you really have to do so, like when you’re in some kind of a hurry…

Unfortunately, I am not going to walk into the shower with a camera for the guide’s sake. But I have replicated what I can in front of the camera for the viewers. Hopefully, that will give a glimpse into how exactly I wash and style my curly hair. Check out the video below.

PART 1 – IN THE SHOWER

So, this isn’t included in the video but I do use a light shampoo on my hair. Often a sulfate-free shampoo though sometimes a sulfate shampoo because I test a lot of products and review them on the blog.

In case your curly hair is totally natural, a sulfate-free shampoo or just a conditioner wash will be more than enough. After that I use a wide tooth comb to detangle my hair, that’s messy after the shower. Usually, I also do a kind of a hair treatment. I rinse that out and while I’m still taking the shower, while the water is running, so I part my hair. I create a side part, though not too straight. A little side-to-side part is more flattering for a curly hair.

I then give my hair a final rinse and make sure it’s completely saturated. Oh, I forgot to mention before I get into the shower I check that my curly hair styling products are all placed strategically next to the shower so I can put them in while I’m still in there.

AFTER THE SHOWER BUT WITH REALLY WET HAIR

So as I walk out of the shower, instantly take my curl cream, mix it between my palms and apply it to my hair. I try to spread the curl cream evenly through my hair and run my fingers through to get the curls form and stick together.

Afterward, I give my hair a light scratch just to release some of the water and help the curl cream really sink into my hair. My hair is dripping wet at this point. I put my hair to the side so that I can let the curls hang and give them a good crunch right up to the root and squeeze out some excess water. At this point, I’ll also get an old t-shirt just to give a really light squeeze and scrunch my curls to remove the excess water. My curls still quite wet at this point.

Next, I take my favorite hair gel. I mix the gel between my palms and using my hands, rub it in my hair . I’m not running my fingers through my hair so much as I try to evenly spread the gel over the curls. I then apply more gel to the ends of my hair and squidge up. Then the t-shirt comes up again and I use it to the curls up to my head.

EXTRA STYLING TIP

To get an extra volume for my hair, I’m going to employ some flat pin clips at the roots of my hair. These things assist in holding my hair up at the roots, so it doesn’t dry flat. In my regular routine, I would leave my hair to air dry right from there… But let’s speed it up with a diffuser.

BLOWDRYING YOUR CURLS

For the next step, we’ll need a blow dryer with the diffuser attached. In dryer’s settings I use high heat but low speed. That’s because the heat must really get into your hair but you don’t want to be blowing it around as this will just cause more frizz. The idea is that you hair needs to fall into the diffuser and bring the diffuser right up into the hair and work very slowly, one section at a time.

At this stage, I will blow dry my hair to about 80% dry so that I don’t create too much extra frizz at the end of my curls.

SCRUNCH OUT THE CRUNCH

To finalize it all we will need to scrunch out the gel. In order to complete this step, you’ll have to wait until your hair is 100% dry…

If you try and do it before you will just create more frizzes. Your hair may sound a little bit crispy because of the gel and there are usually two ways to solve that crispy issue and release the defined curls underneath. The first solution is to use an old t-shirt and do the same scrunching motion. This breaks the physical hold of the gel around your hair and makes your curls softer.

Alternatively, take a diffuser again and while using it on a medium heat setting, warm your hair a bit and then scrunch again. You’ll break the gel cast with a mix of heat and scrunching.

TAME FLYAWAYS

Usually, my hair suffers from at least few flyaways. To work around that I usually use a drop or two of oil to smooth over and define the ends. I also love to give my hair a bit of a shake just to get that extra volume at its roots.

There’s also an additional little trick that I have. You’ll need to put your finger tips right through the roots of your hair and then give a little lift like a tiny shake and then bring your hands straight back out the way it came in. You don’t want to run your fingers through your curls you just want to put them into your hair lift at the roots and then bring your hands straight back out.

Finally, if you notice any curls are sitting a little funny you can dampen them down with water and then re-twist them to get a better-shaped curl.